The phrase "I'm fixin' to ..." is as acceptable as the measurement "over-yonder" for distance here in our neck of the woods. We take the advice and tips from the pros on T.V. up north and show you how to do it here in the South. Welcome to Texas y'all!
Even though we love to renovate and remodel, we often find that we cannot "finish" some of our projects. Some things sit on the verge of being completed for months on end. This leads me to say "Don't Quit Your Day Job" as in "It'll only take a day to finish it, so don't stop now."
In April, we removed a large section of brick from the back of our house which was pulling away from the building. We also removed old siding that was water damaged on the converted garage area. The previous owners added two french doors in the one room that was built after the garage was converted. We were often perplexed at the addition of two sets of doors in one room and decided to ditch the second. We replaced this doorway with a new window. For two months, we procrastinated about finishing the trim around our new window.
This past week, my husband decided to tackle this project and get it done! It took him 3 hours and $25.
This is the "before" - window is secure, sheetrock is secure, first coat of joint compound
Before you start any project, you really ought to consider the costs. We’re Dave Ramsey fans (check him out at www.daveramsey.com) and believe in a cash only lifestyle. No credit cards, no loans. We remodel our house in a debt-free way. Which, as you can imagine, takes longer but is so worth it!
Bathroom Renovation: What have we spent and what can we expect to spend?
4 sheets of Sheetrock, 6 - 2 X 4’s, 1 sheet of Greenboard - $70 (tax included) - purchased
Antique Chest for Vanity - $138 (tax included) - purchased
Vessel Sink - $130 (will purchase online)
Faucet for Sink - $200
Paneling/Wainscotting - $100
Trim - $50
New Door - $40
Tile for floor (approx 40 sq ft @ $2.69 per sheet) - $100
Subway Tile for Shower (approx 130 sq ft @ $0.23 per tile) - $250
Special Order Glass Tile for accent (approx 12 sq ft @ $10 per sheet) - $120
Toilet - $0
Shower Head and Knobs - $75
Grout/Thinset/Underlayment for Tile - $150
Paint - $50
Light Fixture - $100
Plumbing Cost to move copper pipe to expand shower - $400
I think I learned at a very young age what it meant to get a bargain. My mother and I would spend hours and hours every Saturday morning scouring the papers for garage sales or estate sales, reading maps for directions, and burning gallons of gas driving the truck around town looking to get a deal. Twenty years later, I look around and realize the majority of our 2500 square foot home is filled with items that are second hand, from my family's homes, and even antique.
Three places define my home shopping:
Estate Sales
Antique Stores
Flea Markets
Successful garage sale shopping is an art and you must learn the techniques, or at least do what we do:
1. On the one day of the week that you have zero plans, wake up at 6am.
2. Look at the ads online then insist on buying a paper..."just in case".
3. Constantly refer to houses as "Oh, we went to a good garage sale there once". And go every weekend so you can spot old signs that someone forgot to take down.
4. Heckle bad sales or mislabeled "estate sales". Make sure you chastise them for not showing you the inside of the house...since often, that's better than buying things.
5. ALWAYS stop at sales that look like they're run by art students. You'll never regret it.
I look around and do have my favorites, here's just a handful:
Upright Piano - Free - Craigslist
Wicker Screen - $10 - Estate Sale
Old Inlaid Wood Chair - Rumor has it my mother found it for $5 on the side of the road - $9 fabric to recover
Vintage Hoosier Cabinet - $125 - Antique Outlet
Antique Gothic Cabinet (to be vanity for remodeled bathroom) - $128 - Antique Outlet
The moral of this story is: No matter what, don't buy new.
There is nothing more satisfying than swinging a hammer or better yet, a sledge hammer. Almost all projects we've started have involved some amount of demolition. Demolition day is my favorite day. Enjoy.
Here are also some sneak previews of demolition day on our past projects which you'll hear about on our blog some other day.
Removing brick flower boxes from front of house
Removing brick that was pulling away from house and replacing siding with James Hardy siding
The best place to start is the beginning but seeing as our lives are currently consumed with this bathroom renovation, we start here. Sure, we'll go back and look at the 4 months we remodeled our first home, cutting out floors, replacing the cabinets, standing on the dirt ground while in the bedroom...all those are to come.
Currently, our bedroom has one teeny, tiny bathroom attached. The bathroom is fitted with a toilet, sink, and shower. The tile is circa 1955 and pink. The shower floor is...pink...ish. As we removed the baseboards in the bedroom adjacent to the bathroom, we noticed a large amount of mold and mildew damage. So, when we removed the floors and turned on the shower, we could see the leak that must have been occurring for years. In the last three years, we've never used the bathroom connected to our room. Two weeks ago we got a sledge hammer out and tore the place apart.
If you've ever seen programming on HGTV, DIY Network, or This Old House, then you're probably thinking "Where's MY basement?" or "Where in Texas can I find a town filled with 1700s colonial homes?" The realities are...you might be in Texas. And that's where we live. The Lone Star State.
Most homes here are older but still within the last century. We do have those few precious streets designated as "Historical Districts" with homes owned mostly by people who decide to dice up the house and call them "apartments" for local art students. But find a good 1950s-1970s home with character and we're in.
We are an average couple, with average salaries, and average know-how. We've seen the shows, read the magazines, and scoured the blogs looking for tips, ideas, and instructions on how to do just about anything. We have one set of parents nearby that are of the same "ilk". That "ilk" is the DIY fever. We live on the motto "How Hard Could It Be?" and push it to the extremes.
As we start our blogging journey, we hope you learn a lot from own tips and mistakes. So start looking around and we'll convince you that no project is too hard to tackle yourself.
We're Cameron and Erin. We live north of Dallas and we're in house #2.
.JPG)
.JPG)
